Why Should She Be Different?
So Orlando Florida police have egg on their face once again…..times two. This article barely mentions the other child that was arrested. It only mentions that a six year old girl was arrested and fingerprinted because she had a tantrum.
I have to wonder about the competency of any teacher or school administrator that would consider calling in a police officer to arrest an (unarmed) elementary school student.
With a look, I can stop my son from embarrassing me. With a quiet word, I can soothe his momentary, teen angst, yet a Florida teacher who is supposed to be trained for at least 4 YEARS in educating children can’t handle a 6 year old’s tantrum?! Really?!
Parents do it every day.
My son had tantrums. He was Celiac and we didn’t know it, and it affected his behavior, so he had A LOT of tantrums. I was pushed beyond my limit at times, and regret that I spanked him many times, for running away, and for lashing out at me, and all manner of misbehavior. But in all that time, as he was growing up, and as we were finding ways to deal with the Celiac Disease, I NEVER ONCE considered having the police arrest him, mug shot and fingerprint him.
If I had called upon the police to do that, social services would have probably taken him away from me, and my face would be plastered all over Twitter, with people judging me a bad Mom…….Rightfully. So how is this cop being investigated, and not already FIRED? How is the teacher still working at that school?
I’ll tell you how.
The little girl is Black!
Well done, Orlando PD, and Kudos Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy, for allowing this arrest of a SIX YEAR OLD to go down. (Scathing sarcasm).
This little girl is probably scarred for life, now. She will probably believe, that she will be punished, in the future, for any display of dissatisfaction or discomfort. This will make her an easy target for rape, abuse and people who just want to take advantage of her seeming good nature.
Eventually, this PTSD that Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy, and Officer Dennis Turner have probably instilled in this little girl will take another form, and she may lash out at someone who doesn’t deserve it, maybe even her own child. She may develop a fear and loathing for all authority figures- teachers and police alike, and who could blame her?
But why should little Meralyn Kirkland be different?
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/01/25/black-students-more-likely-to-be-arrested.html
https://ocrdata.ed.gov/downloads/crdc-school-discipline-snapshot.pdf
More troubling than the fact that these statistics are so disproportionate in favor of White students, when it comes to excessive disciplinary action is what happens to Black children who are arrested at school or for school related issues.
Youth who become involved in the juvenile justice system are often denied procedural protections in the courts; in one state, up to 80% of court-involved children do not have lawyers. (5) Students who commit minor offenses may end up in secured detention if they violate boilerplate probation conditions prohibiting them from activities like missing school or disobeying teachers.
Students pushed along the pipeline find themselves in juvenile detention facilities, many of which provide few, if any, educational services. Students of color — who are far more likely than their white peers to be suspended, expelled, or arrested for the same kind of conduct at school (6) — and those with disabilities are particularly likely to travel down this pipeline. (7)-
https://www.aclu.org/issues/juvenile-justice/school-prison-pipeline
So what we can extrapolate from this is that Black people are being INTENTIONALLY winnowed out of the educational system, as they have been, all through history. I challenge you to deny it.
http://countrystudies.us/united-states/history-119.htm
So, again, why should one little Black girl in Florida be different? Should she be different, because we need to cling to our delusion that we’ve managed to become different, and more civilized than what we used to be?
Or should she be different because of what we COULD ONE DAY BE, if we really intended to change?
Maybe every little Meralyn Kirkland and her brothers, sisters and cousins would, in that case be treated as we’d all want to see our own sons and daughters treated. And maybe every child of every asylum seeker would be treated that way, too.
This is how life would be better in an INDEPENDENT CALIFORNIA.
The government of an independent California would be held more to account for the crimes of her police forces, and other civil servants, including her politicians. The politicians would have to continue to LIVE among their constituents, and would be subject to the same laws that govern ALL Californians.
Teachers and police officers would think twice before abusing a child (or anyone) verbally or otherwise. School administrations would disallow police from removing students from the school grounds, for non-violent offenses, because they would have some respect for our power of recall, as would judges.
Maybe Meralyn Kirkland and every child should be different, because WE CAN MAKE HER DIFFERENT.
California can do better, and
BECAUSE WE CAN- WE MUST.